[Asterisk-biz] Small / embedded system recommendations

[Mike Taht]

On 12/11/05, Alistair Cunningham <acunningham at integrics.com> wrote:
>
> I know it's been asked before, but this area moves rapidly.
>
> Would anyone have recommendations for a small or embedded system
> suitable for running Asterisk on? Ideally, we'd like two boxes:
>
> - One using compact flash, and is fanless, with rapid booting.
>
> - One with a hard disk for voicemail, call recording, etc.
>
> Preferably they would be capable of bridging 60 calls Zap-Zap or
> Zap-SIP, but we're willing to consider less powerful systems. The
> ability to take a single Digium card is desirable


(returning this conversation to its original question)

60 calls Zap-Zap?  By which I take it you are planning on using a quad T1
card? With echo cancelation? Given the price of these cards it may not
really pay to cheap out on the core hardware.

>From an embedded bottom-end and fanless perspective there are two x86es
worth looking at. One is the Geode LX. The other is any of the range of
upcoming C7 processors from Via. Via  has an odd perspective on heat
management - they seem to think that covering the board with an enormous
heat sink counts as a fanless processor. Underclocking the part works
better. Still, a liquid cooled athlon outperforms both of these processors
and they are darn cheap these days. The cooling system, power supply, and
case all cost more than the base part.

I have periodically worked with the Xscale, mostly the ixp425 and 465. It is
a fast and cool running embedded chip, with support for PCI, but it doesn't
have the oomph (no FPU!) to do echo cancelation or packet loss concealment.
I have never tried to push these sort of processors into a situation where
they had to do serious transcoding and view them as useful in a < 24 line
ip-pbx situation only. One of these days I'll wedge a quad T1 board with
echo cancellation into an ixp425 and see what happens, but it seems unlikely
to be good.



--
Mike Taht
PostCards From the Bleeding Edge
http://the-edge.blogspot.com
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